Cooking

Persephone: Mother. Hades is sick with cold. Can I have the recipe for your special chicken noodle soup?

Demeter: Why should I let him taste my special soup? I don't see any need to. He's a grown man, Persephone. He'll sleep it off.

Persephone: Mother, please put your dislike for him for just one minute? He's really not feeling well. I want to make him feel better. Your chicken soup seems like a good idea right now.

Persephone: Mother?

Persephone: Mother.

Persephone: Mother, please.

Persephone: MOTHER.

Demeter: Alright, alright. Fine. I'll email you the recipe now. But don't expect me to give him any 'Get well' wishes.

Persephone: I know you wouldn't anyway. But thank you!

XXX

Persephone sighed in satisfaction at inhaling the wafting delicious scent of the chicken soup, which was still boiling in the pot atop the stove. Taking the wooden spoon that she had set down on the counter a while ago, she gave the soup another stir, her eyes on the vegetables, chicken bits and noodles that were in the cloudy yellow mixture.

She always loved her mother's special chicken noodle soup. Although there were many different types of chicken soup, her mother's own recipe for the soup was special because it had a rich and strong taste of chicken, and it was guaranteed to make one feel better from any sort of sickness. Persephone remembered all the times that she had been sick when she was little, her mother's soup was always able to seemingly cure her.

After a while more of boiling, she finally turned off the fire, since the chicken noodle soup was finished cooking and ready to be served. Using a ladle, she scooped up a sufficient amount of soup into a bowl, before grabbing a soup spoon and making her way into the bedroom.

On the bed, wrapping the comforter around himself like a cocoon and having several crumpled used tissues around him, Hades was lying down on his side, his watery eyes blankly looking at the muraled wall in front of him. His face was flushed and paler than normal, but his nose was a bright red, signifying the numerous times he had blown his runny nose.

"Poor Hades…" Persephone murmured pitifully as she sat on the edge of the bed, next to her sick husband. Putting the bowl on the nightstand first, she brushed away the damp strays of hair that was sticking to his sweaty forehead. Hades, too sick to reply, only burrowed closer to her, since he felt cold and wanted his wife's warmth. On the contrary, he felt terribly hot, but Persephone allowed him to snuggle closer to her.

"I have something that will make you feel better. Some nice chicken noodle soup."

So Persephone fed him spoonful after spoonful of the hot chicken noodle soup. He took each feeding without reluctance, and even felt slightly better as he continued to eat it. He thanked his wife for her tender loving care, and also praised her for her brilliant cooking.

But Persephone didn't tell him that it was actually her mother's recipe, or else he certainly wouldn't have felt better if he knew that it was from Demeter!

Baking

Today was a day that Hades felt like doing something special for Persephone. He had just recovered from his terrible flu (though still feeling slightly woozy and having a few sniffles now and then) and he wanted to do something to thank her for taking good care of him when he was ill.

Persephone was out for tea with Artemis, Athena and Aphrodite at the moment, so it gave him the opportunity to come up with a surprise for. This time, he felt like doing something different; something that he had rarely done for her before, but was sure to bring a smile to her face.

But what was that?

Well, that would be baking.

Unknown to most, Hades was actually quite skilled at baking, and not only on basics like cookies. He could bake an array of desserts, like brownies, blondies, cakes, muffins, cupcakes, etc. He could make the most sweetest Angel cake or an extremely sinful Devil's food cake. Anyone who had the rare chance to taste his baked goods would have melted from the utmost deliciousness. However, baking was a talent that he preferred to keep to himself and not let anyone else know about it.

Well, anyone else except for Persephone.

For this rare occasion, he decided to bake his wife a Pavlova. Persephone had a strong sweet tooth, and she had a fondness for meringues and cream. So a Pavlova was the perfect dessert for her. And in addition, Hades decided to garnish it with pomegranate seeds, knowing how much Persephone loved pomegranate.

It was quiet in the house as he worked, but it was alright as Hades preferred silence when doing his task at hand. With years of baking knowledge in his mind and in his hands, he made the meringue with utmost precision in accordance to the recipe that he knew, he beat the egg whites with a beater in the bowl with enough force and time to turn it into a perfect white foam.

When the foam had been baked to be firm and crisp meringue, he started spreading loads of whipped cream atop of it, before sprinkling many red and juicy pomegranate seeds all over it. It was just as he finished garnishing did Persephone finally come back home, entering the kitchen first upon smelling the sweet delicious scent in the air.

"Hades?" she said with surprise. "What are you doing?"

Wiping his hands on the apron he had on – yes, he wore an apron, because he knew how important it was to wear an apron when handling foodstuffs – and smiling at her, he replied, "Something to thank you for, my dear. A Pavlova as sweet and as warm as you are."